Thursday, May 5, 2011

WOW-IS THAT A FACT?

In the Sahara Desert, there is a town named Tidikelt, Algeria,
which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years.
Technically though, the driest place on Earth
is in the valleys of the Antarctic near Ross Island .
There has been no rainfall there for two million years.

Spain

Spain literally means ‘the land of rabbits’.

St. Paul, Minnesota

St. Paul, Minnesota, was originally called Pig’s Eye
after a man named Pierre ‘Pig’s Eye’ Parrant
who set up the first business there.

Roads

Chances that a road is unpaved:
in the U.S.A. = 1%;
in Canada = .75%

Russia

The deepest hole ever drilled by man is the
Kola Superdeep Borehole, in Russia .
It reached a depth of 12,261 meters
(about 40,226 feet or 7.62 miles).
It was drilled for scientific research
and gave up some unexpected discoveries,
one of which was a huge deposit of hydrogen
- so massive that the mud coming from the hole
was boiling with it.

United States

The Eisenhower interstate system requires
that one mile in every five must be straight.
These straight sections are usable as airstrips
in times of war or other emergencies.

Waterfalls

The water of Angel Falls (the world’s highest) in Venezuela
drops 3,212 feet (979 meters).
They are 15 times higher than Niagara Falls.

Alaska

More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska

Chicago

Next to Warsaw, Chicago has the largest Polish population
in the world.

Detroit

Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, carries the designation M-1,
so named because it was the first paved road anywhere.

Damascus, Syria

Damascus, Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years
before Rome was founded in 753 BC,
making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence.

Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul, Turkey, is the only city in the world
located on two continents.

Los Angeles

Los Angeles ‘ full name is:
El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula
– and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A.

New York City

The term ‘The Big Apple’ was coined
by touring jazz musicians of the 1930s
who used the slang expression ‘apple’ for any town or city.
Therefore, to play New York City
is to play the big time – The Big Apple.
There are more Irish in New York City
than in Dublin, Ireland ;
more Italians in New York City
than in Rome, Italy ;
and more Jews in New York City
than in Tel Aviv , Israel .

Ohio

There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio , every one is man-made

Pitcairn Island

The smallest island with country status is Pitcairn
in Polynesia, at just 1.75 sq. miles/4,53 sq. km.

Rome

The first city to reach a population of 1 million people
was Rome, Italy in 133 B.C.
There is a city called Rome on every continent.

Siberia

Siberia contains more than 25% of the world’s forests.

S.M.O.M.

The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world
is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.M.O.M).
It is located in the city of Rome, Italy,
has an area of two tennis courts.

Interesting stuff

1. In the 1400's a law was set forth in England that a
man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no
thicker than his thumb....Hence we have'the rule of
thumb'

2. Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was
invented.It was ruled 'Gentlemen Only...Ladies
forbidden'...and thus, the word GOLF entered into
the English language.

3. The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime
time TV was Fred and Wilma Flintstone.

4. Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than
the U.S. Treasury.

5. Men can read smaller print than women can; women
can hear better....( I don't know about these facts)

6. Coca-Cola was originally green.

7. It is impossible to lick your elbow.

8. The State with the highest percentage of people who
walk to work: Alaska

9, The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%
and for North America that is wilderness: 38%

10. The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of
eleven: $16,400

11. The average number of people airborne over the
U.S. in any given hour: 61,000

12, Intelligent people have more zink and copper in
their hair.

13, The first novel ever written on a typewriter, Tom
Sawyer.

14. The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile
National Monuments.

15. Each King in a deck of playing cards represents a
great King from history:
Spades - King David
Hearts - King Charlemagne
Clubs - Alexander, the Great
Diamonds - Julius Caesar

16.111,111,111 X 111,111,111=12,345,678,987,654,321

17. If a statue in the park of a person on a horse, has
both legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the
horse has one front leg in the air, the person died
because of wounds received in battle. If the horse
has all four legs on the ground, the person died of
natural causes.

18. Only two people signed the Declaration of
Independence on July 4, John Hancock and Charles
Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but
the last signature wasn't added until five years later.

19. Q. Half of all American live within 50 miles of what?
A. Their birthplace.

20. Q. Most boat owners name their boats. What is the
most popular boat name requested?
A. Obsession !

21. Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would
you have to go until you would find the letter 'A'?
A. One thousand.

22. Q. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes,
windshield wipers and laser printers have in
common?
A. All were invented by women.

23. Q. What is the only food that does't spoil ?
A. Honey.

24. Q. Which day are there more collect calls than any
other day of the year ?
A. Father's Day.

25. In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured
on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the
ropes, the mattress the mattress tightened, making
the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase....
'Goodnight, sleep tight'

26. It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years
ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's
father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead
he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because
their calendar was lunar based, this period was
called the honey month, which we know today as
the honeymoon.

27. In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts.
So in old England, when customers got unruly, the
bartender would yell at them 'Mind your pints and
quarts, and settle down.'
It's where we get the phrase' mind your Ps and Q's.

28. Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a
whistler baked into the rim, or handle, of their
ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used
the whistle to get some srvice. 'Wet your whistle' is
the phase inspired by this practice.
29. At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick
their elbow.

30. Do Not Delete This..... Just because it looks weird,
believe it or not, you can read it !

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd
waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the
hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig is rscheerch at Cmsbrigde
Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers
in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the
first and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset
can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it wouthit
a porbelm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos
not raed ervey lterer by istlef, but the wrod as a
wlohe. Amzanig huh?

31. YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2011 when....
A) You accidentally enter your PIN on the micro
wave.
B) You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.
C) You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your
family of three.
D) You e-mail the person who works at the desk next
to you.
E) Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and
family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.
F) You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell
phone to see if anyone is home to help you to carry
in the groceries.
G) Every commercial on television has a web site at
the bottom of the screen.
H) Leaving the house without your cell phone, which
you didn't even have the first 20 or 30 years of of
your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn
around and go get it.
J) You get up in the morning and go on line before
getting your coffee.
K) You start tilting your head sideways to smile. :)
L) reading this and nodding and laughing.
M) Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are
going to forward this message.
N) You are too busy to notice there was no letter (I)
on this list.
O) You actually scrolled back uo to check that there
wasn't a (I) on this list.

Fess up-Don't you feel smarter now then 10 minutes ago?
Have a good day!